In a recent appearance on the Pardon My Take podcast, ESPN’s Peter Schrager was asked to name a team he’s talked to that is very excited about what it was able to do during this weekend’s NFL draft. His answer, which may be surprising to some, was the Minnesota Vikings.
The Vikings took just five players in the 2025 draft, tied for the fewest in the league. Only one of those — their first-round pick, Ohio State guard Donovan Jackson — came in the top 100 selections. Nonetheless, GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and head coach Kevin O’Connell appear to be pretty thrilled with the way the draft unfolded and the guys they were able to add to their roster.
“I spoke with both guys in Minnesota today,” Schrager said. “The Minnesota Vikings were really fired up about their draft. And I can’t even tell you, I think they took Donovan Jackson in the first round, an offensive lineman. I literally cannot recall who they got in other rounds, and yet both of them were like fired up. They didn’t go timidly into this thing, they had their interests, what they wanted, and talking to Kwesi, talking to O’Connell, (they’re) fired up and like ‘we did very well this week.'”
The rest of the Vikings’ class includes Maryland WR Tai Felton (third round), Georgia DL Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins (fifth round), Penn State LB Kobe King (sixth), and Pitt TE Gavin Bartholomew (sixth). Adofo-Mensah and company are pretty excited about the value and upside of all of those guys.
It starts with Jackson, who the Vikings believe is the final piece of what could be a dominant offensive line in front of J.J. McCarthy this year. They love his athleticism and tenacity and football character, and he’ll almost certainly slot in as their starting left guard right away this fall.
Felton is a guy with speed and route-running ability and big-time production last season. He adds some depth to the Vikings’ wide receiver room and is a lot of fun when he has the ball in his hands. Ingram-Dawkins is a new developmental chess piece for Brian Flores; he’s a ridiculous athlete who can play both on the edge and the interior of the defensive line. The Vikings think they may have gotten a steal in King, who is an outstanding run-defending linebacker, and they believe Bartholomew has some upside as an athletic pass-catching tight end.
When you come into a draft with just four picks, there’s only going to be so much you can do. But Adofo-Mensah navigated the board with three trades (one of which brought QB Sam Howell to Minnesota) and came away with a class that he’s got high hopes for in 2025 and beyond.
